Find Inner Peace With Sufi Whirling

IndiaTimes

May 16, 2013

Sufi Whirling is more than a customary dance form. It is, in fact, a path to self awareness, higher consciousness, liberation, and enlightenment. Zia Nath, an ardent Sufi Whirling practitioner who has been practicing the dance since 20 years, tells us more about this sacred dance form...

How does Sufi Whirling help to derive peace?Whirling, or turning, is as old as dance itself. Every dance discipline around the world has turning or whirling techniques. Whirling is not just a dance or movement; it is a phenomenon that has supported many seekers on the path to self awareness, higher consciousness, liberation, enlightenment. Through whirling we access a centre within us that is still and silent. This stillness in the body becomes a bridge to higher consciousness, realising that all that is outside and within is the expression of the divine. A whirler experiences the mystique of life and the divine in the whirling dances. The whirling movement outside carries our presence deeper to the very centre of our being, where we can find a moment of rest and stillness—a meeting with the divine. This journey that these dances inspire within us brings sacredness to our life. That is why they are called sacred dances. And one of the experiences of these sacred experience is a sense of peace.

Is it necessary to perform the customary dance within the ‘Sema’?Sema means sacred space. Traditionally different Sufi Schools have a sema – environment, space around them and within them set up for a specific sacred journey within, and whirling is practiced in this sema the way it is set up with the specific school. With the contributions of Sufi Mystic Saint, Hazrat Inaayat Khan, today Sufism is not restricted to caste, culture or religion. Hazrat Inaayat Khan coined the term ‘Universal Sufism’ – means one world, one religion. Everyone is a sufi – Sufism is a state of being that can be reached through many different practices – that involves the path of the heart, heart meditations, devotion, reverence, humility are all qualities that take us to the sufi space. So in present time, Sufi whirling is not always done traditionally in a sema – many people practice it by themselves in their room, with their friends in the garden – as a meditative process for their personal spiritual development and create their own sacred space - 'sema' for their whirling practice.

What do you require to perform a heart-warming Sufi Whirling?Some nice spaciousness, a good smooth floor, music that has a quality of meditation and knowing the turning technique.

Do we need soulful music to go with the whirling?I like to orient to music that has a meditative quality to it – it does not have to be slow, but its has a quality that one can feel – that musicians were bringing this music from a meditative sacred space within them – this is my preference. This is soulful to me. We can whirl to anything that touches us and makes us turn – music is not restrictive.

Can it be practiced daily?Yes it can be practiced, daily or weekly or monthly or annually. There is no fixed rule. Unless one is attached to a traditional school of whirling – there the rules and disciplines are different. It’s important to consider whirling as a technique that brings the individual to the threshold of meditation. Then the whirling stops and the meditation starts. The person may or may not be still whirling. But the meditation inside continues. So for some people it maybe resourceful to access this as a daily meditative practice. For some others they may integrate it with other meditative modalities and do it a few times a year.

Since when have you been practicing Sufi Whirling?I have been in the practice of sufi whirling since 20 years now.

What is spirituality for you?Spirituality for me is experiential. I like to orient to meditation as my spiritual practice. Mediation brings me to an awareness of oneness, unification, stillness and silence.